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I am not very knowledgeable about this subject. So please mercy for my dumb questions. How does union work in Germany or other European countries. How are they

I am not very knowledgeable about this subject. So please mercy for my dumb questions. How does union work in Germany or other European countries. How are they still able to keep up their economic competitiveness. Is it because of small population or that they've built a moat around their patents etc... Or they've access to cheap workers from poor neighboring nations or if their unions are all fake scheming together with the owners to raise the productivity for workers and give them false sense of security? I've never seen non German union leader for a German company even tho I've seen lots of non German folks working for them. I never understood why

gsnedders 8y ago
I'm sure someone who's actually worked in Germany and has more direct experience than I will come along and correct me, but… * The corporate culture is very different to the US, and there's much less of the antagonism you often see between employers and employees in the US. This manifests itself in various ways, most obviously with employee representatives on the board. There's lot more recognition that both losing staff (especially en mass) is hurtful to the company even in "replaceable" rolls (because there's always job specific knowledge) and that driving the company into the ground isn't good for the employees (because then they don't have a job). * If it's obviously cheaper to move manufacturing overseas (or decrease labour through automation, etc.), the unions are less likely to fight it than they are in the US, but rather negotiate with the company some agreement either moving employees to elsewhere in the organisation or giving them training so they have the skills to be able to find another, safer job. * An extreme example is a union negotiating a pay decrease for its membership in exchange for increased investment in the company to ensure job security (i.e., valuing the long-term outcome of consistent income above short-term income). So, in short, a lot of it simply comes down to a willingness to compromise.

gsnedders 8y ago

I'm sure someone who's actually worked in Germany and has more direct experience than I will come along and correct me, but… * The corporate culture is very different to the US, and there's much less of the antagonism you often see between employers and employees in the US. This manifests itself in various ways, most obviously with employee representatives on the board. There's lot more recognition that both losing staff (especially en mass) is hurtful to the company even in "replaceable" rolls (because there's always job specific knowledge) and that driving the company into the ground isn't good for the employees (because then they don't have a job). * If it's obviously cheaper to move manufacturing overseas (or decrease labour through automation, etc.), the unions are less likely to fight it than they are in the US, but rather negotiate with the company some agreement either moving employees to elsewhere in the organisation or giving them training so they have the skills to be able to find another, safer job. * An extreme example is a union negotiating a pay decrease for its membership in exchange for increased investment in the company to ensure job security (i.e., valuing the long-term outcome of consistent income above short-term income). So, in short, a lot of it simply comes down to a willingness to compromise.